Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Surviving 3 months with a Jack Russell puppy

Colby the Jack Russell and Cookie the tuxedo cat eye each other up before a sparring match.(Photo: Jeffrey Gentry/The News Journal)

In the nearly three months that Colby the Jack Russell terrier has been unleashed upon the house, I've learned quite a bit.

Colby, however, hasn't learned very much.

Well, I should reword that. Colby has learned an awful lot, just hardly any of it was what I wanted him to learn.

He has, for example, learned the meaning of "NO!"

It obviously means "please be my guest and do exactly what you just did again and again while running from the man trying to stop you."

He has also learned the sounds potential food sources make. These sounds include but are, in his mind, not limited to: crinkling plastic, metal pans, plates placed on a table, a refrigerator door opening, the back door opening and me coming home from work, a cat throwing up (don't ask), the metal-on-metal sound of the dog treat lid, cat in the litter box (again, don't ask) and the list goes on.

I taught Colby none of those things and have refrained from giving him things I freely shared with Toby. Toby loved pieces of pizza crust and pork rinds. I know. I was bad.

Colby has learned if he's nice in front of his grandparents, he gets cheese. Colby is therefore as nice as ever – picture innocent eyes, wagging tail, loving licks – in front of his grandparents.

He has also quickly learned the difference between a cat that will roughhouse willingly with him and one which will claw his doggie butt all around the house if he even attempts such a thing with her. That's one thing I could have taught him.

As for what I have learned ...

I've learned the amount of patience I have before dropping a curse word is nowhere near the level I once thought it was.

One circle through the den and kitchen trying to stop a whirling dervish with a pen cap in his mouth and I'm already giving him new names that will make the neighbors blush if they hear me.

Most importantly, I've also learned that I don't know what I'd do without him.

Share in the Only in Delaware conversation 24/7 on delawareonline. Contact Jeffrey Gentry at jgentry@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeffreygentry